Two Sides of the Same Tale
by Crystal Hope Dragon
Summary: "Who's your favorite detective?" "Why it's a pleasure to see you too Hakuba. I'm doing swell this morning, thanks for asking. What a gentleman you are, always so polite!" Kaito says with a snarky grin. - Two sides of a coin, opposites yet the same. When the thief picks the lock and the detective finds the truth, the source of the cages will come crashing down.
1. Chapter 1

"Who's your favorite detective?"

"Why it's a pleasure to see you too Hakuba. I'm doing swell this morning, thanks for asking. What a gentleman you are, always so polite!" Kaito says with a snarky grin as he continues to work on his -...origami?- project while Sugaru sits beside him in class.

Hakuba resists the urge to shake his head, ignoring the response entirely. "Pretending you aren't Kid for a moment,"

Kaito only scoffs. "Pretend?"

"Assuming you truly have nothing to do with Kid personally," Hakuba stresses, "you are still his biggest fan, and very much like him. So tell me, who do you think is his favorite? Or yours, for that matter. Who's the best detective?"

Kaito chuckles as the origami duck in his hands suddenly folds out into a sail boat. Sugaru was expecting a response, and knew better than to let his guard down by this point. One wrong move and he may end up wearing that boat.

Kaito sits the now swan-boat down, actually seeming to contemplate the question. "Kid does love all his detectives, each offering a new and different challenge." He starts at last. "Whether it be Nakamori-san's not so controlled mass of people, your calculating analytical approach to his unpredictable methods, or Hattori Heiji's equally unpredictable instinct-deductive mix," Sugaru scoffs at calling that a deductive method, "you all offer something that Kid enjoys learning new ways to avoid. Edogawa Conan's keen eye, Sera Masumi's uncontrolled and unlimited strength - mental and physical. Each of you can pose a real threat, one he does take pride in overcoming. No one though; not Keibu, tantei-han, tantei-chan," he hesitates oddly for a moment before adding, "tantei-kun, or even you, tantei-san, offer him quite the challenge Meitantei does." He just smiles slightly while turning the boat into a full swan, in actual detail.

Hakuba takes a moment to process this. This was more information than a normal fan would have, Sugaru obviously knows this. Kuroba obviously does as well. He was trusting Sugaru with this, trusting that since he asked an honest question he would be careful with what he did with the honest answer. After all, knowing who his favorite was gave Hakuba no advantage on the field, it was just something he personally wanted to know. He did appreciate the trust his not-quite-friend had given him here. There was just one problem though.

"Who...would Meitantei happen to be?"

Kaito was so surprised by that response that he actually failed at his trick. The swan dress Sugaru was about to be subjected to fell to the floor from shock. "You...never met Meitantei? You never met meitantei! How could you have missed each other though?! You're so alike! You are both the geekiest, somewhat law abiding, Holmes fanatics to ever live! How did you miss each other?"

Hakuba had backed up during Kuroba's rant while carefully keeping an eye on the dress. He also carefully avoided the jabs to his hobbies and legality. "Kuroba, calm down. I may know him, but you haven't said his name yet so I have no way to discern that." Kaito pauses at the realization.

"O. Kudo Shinichi of course, who else would be Meitantei?" He says like it's the most obvious thing in the world, hands still mid air from his exaggerated motions. Hakuba in the mean time is confused for a different reason. Kudo, Kudo...

"As of date, Kudo Shinichi has only ever been present for one Kaitou Kid heist. It was a year and a half ago, and though he nearly stopped the heist -something at that point that was almost unprecedented- he did not get even close to actually capturing Kid. He also hasn't been seen since. Why would he be Kid's great Meitantei?" Kudo Shinichi had been completely absent since not long after that heist, and had had no known interaction with Kid since. Hakuba knew he was missing something, something big. He also had a feeling he wasn't going to get it.

"Sometimes the greatest foe is the one most like yourself." Kaito said, surprisingly quiet.

Hakuba just nodded, realizing that was his que to figure the rest out on his own. After all, asking for the rest would be asking to have his job done for him. He was a detective after all.

/

Two sides of a coin, opposites yet the same. Light and dark skating the middle line between law and crime (bad and good, so hard to differentiate at this point) so closely that you can barely see the definition. One with luck so good it's a curse, another with a curse so reliable it can be considered a blessing.

Both trapped in a similar way though. One in a cage that didn't change, only he and his role forced to be rewritten. Everyone else acts the same, but he can no longer be the person he wishes to return to.

The other trapped as himself in a cage ever changing, where he can't risk showing his own changes for fear of revealing his other self. He is trapped in a cage of his past self, never allowed to move, even though he physically didn't have any actual change.

They juxtapose well. One is trapped physically in his past, while mentally allowed to grow and flourish with new friends and environments. The other can grow physically at his normal rate, but is trapped socially and mentally for fear of giving himself away, only allowed to grow behind the mask. Then again, the both can only grow with the masks at this point.

One lost everything but himself, and therefore clings to his morals and the side of law while fighting to regain his lost path. The other lost nothing but himself, as everyone and everything around him is still there, even when he himself truly can't be as he has sacrificed those morals in the search for the truth. The truth the other values so highly.

The one who clings to his morals and self cannot be himself, and the one who clings to his world and family after sacrificing himself can't let the world in.

They are each other's greatest rival, greatest asset, greatest friend. Hopefully someday they can free each other from the cages they are trapped in. When the thief picks the lock and the detective finds the truth, the source of the cages will come crashing down.


	2. Epilogue

At the end of class Hakuba left in a flurry. He had a missing persons case to organize and a rivalry to study. In his flurry though, he managed to overlook a laughing Kaito and the swan dress he was currently wearing. What? Just because his life could be dangerous and depressing didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun.

/

The more hardships one suffers in life, the more they appreciate the small joys that it gives.


End file.
